EXCHANGE ALLEY // May 31, 2007

Bounce is back: Readers share recipes for cherry beverage popular in colonial days

Cherry bounce is in the house, y'all.
A.S. of Folsom, who asked for a recipe some time ago, reports that his wild cherries are ripe and ready to be used to make the beverage called cherry bounce. Here is a sampling of readers' replies and their recipes for this ancient local favorite.

Here's how old it is: The "Food Lover's Companion-RD" says that "bounce-RD" is a beverage, popular in colonial days, made by combining rum or brandy with fruit, sugar and spices and allowing the mixture to ferment for one to three weeks. (And "bounceberry" is another name for cranberry.)

In what other city in America are citizens still making bounce? And how did wild cherries come to be the preferred fruit for making it here?

While we ponder those questions, there are several things one can say for sure about the almost-lost art of local bounce-making. One, bounce always contains fruit and sugar (but not spices). And a wide variety of alcohol is used, but usually not rum or brandy. Two, fermenting times vary just as wildly, ranging from two or three weeks to six months.

Three: Someone should be selling wild cherries at a farmers market, because several people mentioned that they would like to have some.

J.S. of Belle Chasse has used a recipe that includes both vodka and bourbon for almost two decades, and it recommends fermenting for "at least six months to arrive at its wonderful aroma and color."

N.B. of Metairie notes that his wife remembers her grandfather making cherry bounce in the 1940s. The recipe below is similar to his. P.H. of Slidell also sent a recipe that is a near duplicate of this one.

1940s cherry bounce

2 quarts wild cherries, stemmed and cleaned

3 cups white sugar

1 quart bourbon

Place cherries in a 1-gallon crock. Add sugar and stir. Cover crock with cheesecloth and let stand for 2 weeks. Stir every other day. Add bourbon to crock. Let stand overnight, then strain through cheesecloth into bottles.

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From Mandeville, R.L. sent a vivid account of helping his Cajun grandmother make cherry bounce in the mid 1950s. His job was to spread old sheets around the base of the cherry tree, climb up and shake the tree limbs, then gather the wild cherries that had fallen onto the sheets.

"My grandmother used a wide-mouthed crock, maybe 3- or 5-gallon. Her recipe was simple. Remove the stems, gently wash the cherries so as not to bruise the skins, then place alternating layers of refined white sugar and dry cherries in the crock, starting with the sugar. . . . The tops of the cherries were visible after each layer of sugar. . . . She would layer the big crock with this formula to up to 12 inches deep. Then she simply covered the crock with a cheesecloth large enough to generously lap over the sides of crock. The concoction was set inside a base kitchen cabinet to let nature take its course and ferment for about six weeks.

"The results were a thick, black, syrupy combination of sugar, cherry skins and pits. This formula was strained through a cheesecloth by forming a ball of about six to eight inches, twisting it to force the liquid into a container. My grandmother always warned not to twist too tight at the end of each strain, so as not to introduce the bitterness of the pulp and pits into the liquid.

"That was it; a production of a thick, very sweet cherry bounce, no cooking needed. After that, she would blend the results with an inexpensive light, dry white wine (to taste), and store it in gallon jugs, kept in a cabinet for future consumption.

"She had a little glass of wine every afternoon right out of the jug. It might have helped her longevity, as she lived close to 90 years."

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Several readers found cherry bounce recipes in heirloom cookbooks, including on page 17 in "From Woodstoves to Microwaves: Cooking With Entergy." The one in "Mam Papaul's Country Creole Basket" by Nancy Tregre Wilson also is made by layering cherries, and grain alcohol or white port is added. Frequent contributor P.M. found a recipe for "Cordial merise" on page 323 of Mary Land's 1954 "Louisiana Cookery, " which calls for whiskey or orgeat (an almond syrup, pronounced "or-zhä") as well as a recipe in "The Art of Creole Cookery."

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CORDIALLY YOURS: N.B. of Metairie passed along this recipe, which uses a fruit in plentiful supply right now. And, in an amazing coincidence, M.R. of New Orleans asked for a recipe for this very thing.

Blueberry cordial

1 cup white sugar

3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1 2/3 cups vodka or spiced rum

Combine all ingredients in a 1-quart jar. Cover tightly and shake well. Set aside in a cool, dark place for 2 months. Pour mixture through a fine sieve into decorative bottle. Discard berries.

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SPEAKING OF BLUEBERRIES: Ramona Suttkus knows blueberries, as she runs the pick-your-own Danneman Farms in Kiln, Miss. She shared this recipe recently.

Blueberry cobbler

Makes 6 to 8 servings

1 stick butter

3 to 4 cups fresh blueberries

1 cups water

2 cups sugar, divided use

¾ cup self-rising flour

¾ cup milk

Melt the butter in an 8- or 9-inch square pan that you can put on both the stovetop and in the oven. Put blueberries in pan with water and 1 cup sugar. Leave on burner. Simmer while making crust.

Mix the flour, milk and 1 cup sugar together. Mix well. Pour over blueberries. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Check frequently to see if juice is leaking out of the crust. If so, add a little water down the side to keep cobbler juicy.

Serve warm with ice cream.

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BAKED MACARONI MYSTERY? A recent list of still-unfulfilled recipe requests noted that two readers had asked for the recipe for the macaroni and cheese as served at Jack Dempsey's on Poland Avenue. One of the people who asked for it was R.S. of Mandeville, who had said that "the owner's son gave me the recipe years ago and I misplaced it."

L.H. of Metairie sent a baked macaroni recipe she received from a co-worker in April 1996.

"When she faxed it to me she wrote on the bottom 'from Jack Dempsey's Restaurant.' I have never been to Jack Dempsey's so don't know if this is authentic, " L.H. writes.

The recipe calls for "1 large can of cream." This is a mystery to me. Could this mean a can of evaporated milk, which is a relatively common ingredient in macaroni and cheese (and creamy sauces of all kinds) and comes in both large and small size cans?

Said to be Jack Dempsey's baked macaroni

1 package macaroni

1 8-ounce package Philadelphia cream cheese

1 large can of cream (see above)

1 stick butter or margarine

1 can Campbell's cheddar cheese soup 2 eggs, beaten

1 8-ounce package shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Boil macaroni according to package directions. While macaroni is boiling, take a 9- by 13-inch pan and place it over the boiling water. Add to the pan (to soften) the cream cheese, butter and cheese soup. When softened, add the cream and the eggs and mix well.

When the macaroni is done, drain and add it to the ingredients in the pan and mix well. Add cheese. Bake in 350-degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes.